TIMBER WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 3, 29 September 1942, Page 3

TIMBER WORKERS

Acute Shortage Of Labour

The total number of men released from the armed forces to the timber industry, including boxmaking and felling, was only 230, though.the total number retained within the industry by appeals as well was 971 at the end of June, said the secretary of the Sawmillers’ Federation, Mr. Arthur Seed, yesterday referring to a recent statement by the secretary of the Wellington Timber Workers’ Union that about 900 timber workers had been released from the Army. From the timber industry 2920 employees 'had gone to the armed forces, or nearly one-third, of its normal manpower, added Mr. Seed. The vital part played by timber in the prosecution of the war was not generally realized, as munitions and almost all other supplies for the services needed wooden boxes for transport. The. quantity of timber still required for the construction of camps, hutments, stores, military hospitals and other defence buildings was colossal, Mr. Seed continued, and the manpower problems of the industry had become so acute that nearly all logging .'camps and sawmills were working . extended hours of 48 a week or more. Box factories were mainly working up to 54 hours weekly, and in some cases on shift as much as 80. However, shift work was now next to impossible because of lack of workers.